Except the Puritans didn't saw people's heads off with dull knives.... and they really haven't been around for 200 years or so.

The Puritans would slit your tongue for gossiping, or have an ear off for dancing on the Sabbath. They were the religious extremists of their day. They left England because their hard-line Christianity wasn't tolerated, and some of what happened in their settlements in the New World was horrific.